made by hand

Is it just me or has anyone else out there noticed how many more people are embracing the Handmade Pledge this year? Maybe it's been like that for a while, but it just seems like every blog, website & tweet I come across promotes handmade items, whether it's handcrafted holiday gifts, baked goodies, ornaments or even handmade wrapping paper, boxes and cards... it's everywhere and such a delight to the eyes!

In the spirit of my Handmade Holidays, I wanted to share a little surprise I received in the mail from my favorite aunt, my Tia Olga (plus it's more proof that this sorta artsy-crafty, OCDish madness really runs in the family!)

She made these handcrafted felt stockings for the girls and they totally blew me away! Can you imagine how much time went into these?? Every little feature on every face was hand stitched. Every sequins and bead was hand applied. All the little toys and figures were carefully stuffed to give it that 3-D look...



There are balls, puppy dogs and teddy bears spilling out of Santa's bag...



There are pretty ballerinas and old-fashioned train engines gathered under the tree...



Each stocking is beautifully personalized...





She even autographed them for us...



I can assure you right now these will be cherished forever. If I could display them all year long, I so would!



And speaking of 'made by hand', the girls finally sat down to write their letters to Santa. Here's Sophie's. It's gonna be darn near impossible for me to stick to my handmade pledge with these sort of items (especially the top 2!)



Sydney's list (dictated by Sydney and written by her big sister, since Sydney can only write her name and the numbers 1 - 7 right now) is a bit simpler... I think I can get creative and still please her. ;)



P.S. In the past couple of days I've made about 120 gift tags out of my recycled greeting cards and two batches of peppermint bark, one with dark chocolate and one with white (remember my obsession with this candy goodness?) My family seems to prefer the dark, which is quite fine with me because I adore the white! More on that at a later post. I need to get back to work... deadlines approaching! :)